After
I had interviewed Charles Halt a few weeks ago, I heard from John Burroughs.
During our discussion about the Halt interview, John said a couple of intriguing
things. I thought he might be able to provide a different perspective on the
Rendlesham Forest encounter, so I talked with him this week. You can listen to
the interview here:
We
started out discussing his involvement in two days of the main events of late
December 1980, but delved into some of the reports that suggested strange
things had been seen in the area for months before that and after. John was
just telling us that sightings were not limited to those three days.
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| John Burroughs |
I
had been somewhat confused some of this until I had talked with John about his
involvement. Jim Penniston and John worked for different organizations on the
base. There was a separation of police and security forces. Two different
functions for two different units with two difference chains of command under
most circumstance. I learned that John
was out there with Jim for the first big event on the first night and while Jim
saw what he thought of as a craft, John saw lights.
We
talked about the second day that involved a different crew and how one member
of that crew had been badly frightened by what she saw. John suggested
that she
was gone from the base in what seemed like a matter of days, maybe a matter of
hours.
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| Jim Penniston |
On
the third night, John wasn’t on duty, but when he learned that something was going
on out in the forest, he and a couple of others moved to East Gate on the base
perimeter. Eventually, John went forward and although Chuck Halt mentioned on this
program that John had been in the background on that third night, I have a
taped interview on which Halt mentions that only John and one other were in front
of him. Is this the fog of memory, or is there something a little more
nefarious involved? You can listen to both the latest Chuck Halt and Jim Penniston
interviews here:
From
there we got into a discussion that suggested that others, from outside the
Bentwaters base, had been flown in, quickly, to conduct “debriefings.” They
arrived on an aircraft that had Langley Air Force Base markings. Although it
seems that hypnosis was used on the enlisted personnel, it is also possible
that there were chemical interrogations. John wasn’t sure if chemicals had been
used, but thought there was to a real possibility.
We
ended the discussion with a couple of theories that suggested that there might
have been a more terrestrial explanation for those events… one that did not
involve the lighthouse that is a favorite of the skeptics, but something that
might have to do with some of the experiments being conducted by British
scientists in the area. Apparently, there was a history of British research in
the area for, what, decades.
Yes,
we jammed quite a bit into the hour. There were so many other avenues to
explore but we just ran out of time. I’m now going to take a couple of weeks
off for the holidays, but will be back with some more interesting interviews.
We’ll be running some of the “best of” segments during this short hiatus.
4 comments:
Quote from this blog entry: "... I have a taped interview on which Halt mentions that only John [Burroughs] and one other [Adrian Bustinza] were in front of him. Is this the fog of memory, or is there something a little more nefarious involved?"
"Nefarious" defined on www.dictionary.com includes "extremely wicked or villainous."
Where is the proof of anything nefarious being undertaken by Col. Halt?
The problem with John Burroughs as a witness to the events of Rendlesham Forest is as follows: On both nights of his encounter, Burroughs experienced a period of time in which he was rendered incapable of providing an accurate detail of the events occurring directly before him:
First Night: Per Penniston, who instructed Burroughs to stay back at the tree line and act as a radio relay back to Cabansag – "Burroughs had lost his calm [cool] and was becoming highly agitated and thus did not acknowledge the order." Georgina Bruni, YOU CAN'T TELL THE PEOPLE, 174, and "Penniston looked to his right and saw Burroughs engulfed in a huge beam of light, which appeared to be coming from above. The light encompassed Burroughs." Nck Pope/John Burroughs/Jim Penniston, ENCOUNTER IN RENDLESHAM FOREST, 6.
Third Night: According to Burroughs, [Sgt. Adrian Bustinza} "saw me go into the light. He saw me disappear. He saw the light explode and I was gone for several minutes before I reappeared. [But Burroughs has] no recall of it. [Burroughs has] no memory of what happened." ENCOUNTER IN RENDLESHAM FOREST, 39.
In addition, Bustinza is an altogether unreliable witness given his failure to fashion a coherent narrative of his Rendlesham Forest experience, having provided widely varying accounts of the events in question to such dedicated investigators as Georgina Bruni, Brenda Butler, Timothy Good, John Hanson, Dawn Holloway, and Peter Robbins, among others.
So there you have it: an allegation of possible nefariousness against Col. Halt by a "witness" without knowledge of the events occurring in his immediate environs.
John -
Think you might be over reacting here. However, I have one problem. Every one of the enlisted personnel was subjected to some sort o interrogation; certainly by hypnosis and possibly a chemical regression. Col. Halt said he was not. Why not? Or, does he just not remember?
And, you also must remember the Col. Halt has modified his story since all this happened. He told me on the program that Burroughs had been left at East Gate and was not on duty that night. He told him not to come forward. However, in a taped interview with Larry Warren, Peter Robbins and Robert Oslecher, Burroughs had been in front of him.
And you remember that I asked Burroughs about what he remembered and he said that there was a period where he wasn't sure what had happened. While nefarious might have been an over the top description, there are some real questions that haven't been answered.
Admittedly I was triggered by your use of the word “nefarious” (without proof) against Col. Halt. So I had to protest.
You state: “Every one of the enlisted personnel was subjected to some sort of interrogation; certainly by hypnosis and possibly a chemical [sodium Pentothal?] regression. Col. Halt said he was not. Why not? Or does he just not remember?”
Well, my question is how many enlisted personnel were subjected to some sort of interrogation? I believe this number is rather small. [Although I do not doubt that Penniston – as a major witness – was subject to a good number of interrogations himself.] Also, were any officers included? Any officers at all? I am not aware of any.
If Col. Halt stated Burroughs was back at East Gate, this is inaccurate because Burroughs and a few others did come forward to the staging area in the forest. Sgt. Ball (not Halt, although Halt was in command) told Burroughs not to come forward to join their patrol as Burroughs requested – this is on the Halt tape. If Burroughs was ever “in front of” Col. Halt, the Colonel is referencing an event near the end of the encounter, when Burroughs and Bustinza were given permission to go forward and did so.
The fact that you are relying on an interview with Larry Warren is troubling. Larry Warren has doctored a medical record and doctored photographs – it is not out of the realm of possibility that the tape recording you reference was also doctored.
That said, no man or woman (including important UFO witnesses) are perfect. Over the many years of his involvement in this case, Col. Halt has undoubtedly made some misstatements re: Rendlesham Forest. However, without more proof, such misstatements are a far cry from even being a little nefarious.
Lastly, lest I be interpreted as disrespecting John Burroughs as a Rendlesham Forest UFO witness – Mr. Burroughs is a VIP witness! – and to his great credit, he himself admitted to being rendered incapable of acting as a witness to the event for periods of time on both the First and Third nights. While questions remain, the reality of Rendlesham Forest as a UFO encounter rests on a solid foundation.
John -
The interview I used really has nothing to do with Larry Warren but with Halt's statement, on the tape, that no one was in front of him, as Warren claimed he was, except for Burroughs and Bustinza. The point is that Halt said that Burroughs was in front of him. I'm not relying on Warren, but listening to Halt make the statement. The forum and who was there is irrelevant to the discussion because it is not someone repeating what Halt said but Halt actually saying it.
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